The Congress would not forge an alliance with the Trinamool Congress under any circumstances, newly appointed Bengal Pradesh Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said on Monday adding the pact was not possible till he was at the helm.
Chowdhury also the Junior Union Minister for Railways who is known for his strong differences with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said, “There is no question of any tie-up with the Trinamool Congress. I say this because as of now there is no information or instruction from the high command on this issue.” Chowdhury was made the PCC president by replacing Pradip Bhattacharya reportedly at the behest Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, said, “The Congress will contest from all the 42 seats in the State and we will start a fierce movement ahead of the polls from the first week of March.”
The Congress had taken out a huge procession at Hooghly on Sunday protesting attack on senior PCC leaders by alleged Trinamool Congress supporters. Incidentally, the procession led by Chowdhury tended project a rare semblance of unity in the faction-ridden outfit with all the Congress MPs and MlAs from the State taking part in it. According to an opinion poll the UPA big brother which, has six MPs and 38 MlAs in the State could get two parliamentary seats and manage 6 per cent votes much below the BJP whose share of votes could go up to about 12 per cent. Meanwhile, continuing the policy of showering pre-poll sops further the Government has announced construction of 50,000 houses for the State Government employees.